Course Description

Networks and communication techniques with computers or peripheral devices. Includes communications links and equipment, coding of information, line controls, protocols, multiplexing, socket programming, error correction algorithms, data transmission, and local area networks. Emphasis on modern internet protocols such as TCP/IP, including the application, transport, network, and link layers.

Referenced Books

Grading Policy

The grading policy is broken down into 3 areas: Opus, Assignments, and Participation.

Opus

36%

To maximize your experience and familiarity with concepts encountered during the course, you will be compiling a document that will be a representation of your activities. This “compendium” of knowledge and experiences will combine both materials you've produced and commentary/reflection/revelation of concepts and ideas you've realized.

This is a great way to keep a written record of your exploits, enabling an informative look back on past activities (especially from future classes!), and being a potential source of information from which others can glean some understanding of ideas or concepts.

For grading purposes, your Opus, this great tome of knowledge, will be reviewed by a given set of criteria up to four times a semester; some of the objective criteria to be met for each review include:

information is contained within the appropriately named wiki page (part1, part2, part3, etc.)

includes at least 4 dated entries

appropriately identifies, defines, and demonstrates a number of topics

effectively performs/reviews and comments on a number of experiments

There will be a template provided that can be modified to meet these and other requirements.

These and additional requirements, specific to the course, will be presented in a follow-up document.

Projects

36%

Projects constitute the portion of your grade involving activities you perform in the name of experiencing and demonstrating knowledge in this class- the means by which I will be assessing your understanding of the material through directed explorations of various topics. Such projects may be comprehensive to one another.

Two key products of performing a project are demonstration and documentation. Demonstration is presenting your finished project (that it meets project specifications), to the instructor and being able to respond to any questions on any particular facet therein.

Perhaps more important than demonstration of a working project is the documentation. Documentation includes the instructions for recreation of the end product from the ground up, allowing not only the original author(s), but individuals of sufficient requisite skill to recreate and understand important concepts through reading the prepared documentation.

I reserve the right to request, for any project as terms of acceptance of project demonstration, the recreation of an equivalently functional end result through following of accumulated project documentation. If documentation fails to produce the desired outcome, it will reflect negatively upon the project evaluation.

A list of provided projects may be given, but there might also exist opportunities for additional project ideas- such projects are subject to approval by the instructor prior to starting, and are held to the same demonstration and documentation standards as standard projects.

In some cases, depending on the situations involved, a project may be conducive for group-based collaboration. This is not the default case, but is specified on a case-by-case basis. In such scenarios, all involved group members should be identified prior to starting on the project. Additionally, ALL group members in a collaborative situation must perform fairly equivalent work output into the completion of the project. Deficient members may experience reduced success.

Participation

28%

Maintaining an ever present effort in your journey with respect to being present for class gatherings and making your presence known (both in and outside of class) is an important aspect to academic interactions.

During each scheduled class gathering, you are to be present and have a shell open to Lab46, before class activities are underway. Your presence will be automatically ascertained and recorded.

In addition to your physical presence, participating in class interactions is also of significant importance. Participation is like the “I care” component of your grade. If you care enough to learn and help enhance the experience, you will have no trouble here. If you are disruptive or are not putting forth effort, however, then it will be duly reflected.

This isn't a “kiss up to the teacher” grade. I don't want people bending over backwards to please me. I want to see people learning and asking questions and growing, not agreeing with everything I say. Sometimes I will specifically ask questions or say things for the sole purpose of getting individual perspectives.

Participation is the contribution of YOU to the overall class, in a positive and harmonious manner to the overall group :)

Submission Guidelines

The following are some guidelines to keep in mind when preparing your work for submission. Not all may always be applicable, to each class, or even each submission.

Digital is best

Technology is a wonderful thing. It facilitates many of the tasks we'd otherwise have to do manually by hand.

The intent here is to make things easy on both you and me.

So use the technology, and don't just it for the sake of using it– use it to make the task at hand easier (ie use the technology available for the course).

With that said, some additional aspects to keep in mind:

e-mails were designed to be plain text; don't make them into web pages

e-mails should always have an informative subject line

if you've got non-text files to include in an e-mail, attach them to the message

if you've got many attachments, archive & compress them, and just attach the archive

I can not easily open Microsoft Works documents; don't give me any in that format

If appropriate, I also will accept submissions via singing telegram, airplane banner, crop circles, creative dance, three part rock aria, etc. so long that I get to witness such creativity, and receive something which lets me look back on it later (photos, video, transcription on paper, etc.). Chances are such unique submissions will gain you favorable considerations.

Identification

Where applicable, be sure to include the following information on any submission:

Name,

Course and Section,

Due Date,

Assignment # and description,

Short abstract describing the purpose of your program / assignment.

Presentation of this information in a clear and organized fashion will make your assignment all the easier to read. You may come up with your own format for the display of this information.

Any e-mail submissions should have an appropriate subject line. Please use subjects on all e-mails. This is also very important.

Leaving off the subject line is like sending a letter without putting a stamp on it– it causes someone extra work. And that someone would be me. So don't do it. Please please please use informative subject lines!

Paraphrasing

For any provided questions, keywords, etc.: identify each question or selection you are answering by listing or paraphrasing the original question.

Do not just give me an answer.

This is important. I mean it. You don't know how frustrating it is to get an assignment that just has the answers on it. It takes so much longer to grade.

I reserve the right to deduct points if you don't do this.

Organization

Keep your programs and assignments organized and easy to read.

Use a uniform writing style. Messy or unorganized submissions will have points deducted. Think to yourself: does it look good? Would I want to read this? Take pride in your work.

These assignments are not just for me to read and grade- you may wish to incorporate them into a portfolio for use in the future. Making an investment now could pay off later!

Timeliness

Turn in submissions on time.

Late submissions will be subject to an appropriate penalty. Circumstances vary, see the Late Policy for details.

In many cases, where possible, I do accept resubmissions.

Errors

If you encounter an error while performing some task (and the directions do not indicate you should be receiving an error), chances are you made a typo. Consult the class mailing list, class chat, ask someone, or contact me.

WARNING

Submissions containing answers based on user error will be considered incorrect.

Backups

Be sure to keep a backup copy of all assignments submitted in the event something is lost in transmission.

Important

It is your responsibility to be able to send another copy of your submission should the original be lost.

Common Sense

Use your own judgment. The world today is increasingly filled with rules and policies dictating what you can and cannot do. I am not about to go and list all the specifics and restrictions regarding assignment submission.

You are here to learn and to grow, and I want to allow you a certain amount of flexibility in that process. Spending all your time formatting an assignment to my specifications isn't my idea of learning. Incorporate these guidelines into your general style, if you miss the mark I'll let you know. But focus more on learning and understanding than worrying about dotting every 'i' or crossing every 't'. There's enough of that elsewhere in the world.

Late Policy

Sometimes, even though we try our hardest to get everything in on time, the spurious Murphy's Law will make an appearance. Your dog ate your network cable, a burst of cosmic rays damaged your RAM precisely where your work was located… the list goes on.

If something is not submitted by its respective due date, and no advance attempt has been made to communicate with me, the assignment will be invalidated of any value.

Bottom line.. if something is going to be late: let me know. It happens, just don't make a habit of it. Communication is key.

Attendance

Attendance plays an important part in one's educational journey each semester. Missing class deprives you of essential knowledge and hinders understanding towards your eventual mastering of a topic.

Because we are all here to learn (and if learning isn't a priority, I highly suggest you think about making it such), and believe it or not- learning isn't just about one person, but the entire group. So it is important to be present in order to positively contribute to the learning experience.

I also reserve the right to drop students from the course due to excessive absences.

Network Outages

In the event that a significant network or computer outage occurs on a network under CCC jurisdiction, an appropriate adjustment will be made to any applicable due dates.

If, however, an outage occurs on your end, that shouldn't necessarily be used as an excuse for missing deadlines on work submission. Everyone has a CCC student account, so work can be done while on campus. A certain amount of leniency will typically be granted, if you are usually on-time with your assignments and maintain regular communication with me.

If you experience any sort of problem connecting that does prevent the successful submittal of an assignment or assessment, I expect some notification on your part. Any error messages or diagnostic results will be useful in determining the scope of the problem and consideration regarding due dates.

Class/Weather Cancellation

Class cancellations by the instructor will be posted via an announcement sent directly to your student email account. Cancellations due to inclement weather will be posted on the CCC website and the main page of MyCCC. It is the student’s responsibility to check these sources on a regular basis.

Announcements may also be posted on the course homepage or to the class IRC, if feasible.

Accessibility

Reasonable efforts are taken to ensure the class environment is accessible to individuals of a range of abilities. If you possess attributes that you feel create disadvantageous situations pertaining to learning, physical, or psychological abilities that you feel warrant institutional accommodations, the college has a Student Disabilities Services office that can provide assistance.

The office is located in the lower level of the Commons Building, near the bookstore, room M152.

Students are required to self-identify by making a formal request for services, and to provide current documentation that reflects the nature of the disability. Reasonable accommodations in the classroom will be provided for students with appropriately documented disabilities.

Confidentiality will be maintained at all times.

Collaboration

Because this course is open resource (ie book, computer, note, etc.) I would like it generally to remain closed person. The reason for this is that the amount of resources available to you are vast, and the goal here is to discover and learn the material through individual initiative.

It IS possible to help others without giving away answers.

Respond to questions with a question, give pointers to where information might be located in legitimate sources, remind them of the usefulness of manuals, and the availability of search engines.

Individuals are allowed and expected, to assist others through the mailing list and class chat WITHOUT GIVING EXPLICIT ANSWERS, so long as it does not interfere with any other existing circumstance. If group work is required on anything, that attribute will be specifically stated.

Explicit copying on any class work is forbidden. If any evidence or suggestion of non-authentic work is discovered in your particular direction, you risk both my wrath as well as the possibility of disciplinary action by the school. Academic dishonesty and plagiarism may be prosecuted under the purview as laid out in the school's Academic Honesty Policy, as listed under the “Code of Student Conduct: Academic Honesty” section in the CCC Course Catalog.

So just play it safe and make sure your work is your own, and borrowed information is appropriately cited or referenced.

Documentation

The following criteria should be kept in mind when contributing content to collaborative documentation, the wiki, your opus, and any pertinent class-related communications:

Never use a form of a word in its own definition

Use external hyperlinks only as citations

Content first, then formatting

There is only one empire- ours

Contribute only original content

paraphrase and cite existing information

do NOT blatantly copy existing information

A healthy wiki is an active wiki

Do not focus on just your contributions

Mistakes are opportunities for future contributions

Topics

The following is a list of the major topics being covered in this course: